No place for the elderly? Another senior citizen murdered in Chennai

Shanthi was found murdered in her house in T Nagar.
No place for the elderly? Another senior citizen murdered in Chennai
No place for the elderly? Another senior citizen murdered in Chennai
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A 60-year-old woman found murdered in her house in Chennai’s posh T Nagar on Monday. She was living alone for the last 30 years.

Shanthi, the victim, was a spinster and police suspect that she was strangled to death. Her relatives have also informed the police that 60 sovereigns of gold were missing from her house. Police also suspect that the murder was pre-planned as three CCTV cameras facing Shanthi’s house were blocked by two JCB earth movers parked nearby, reported The New Indian Express.

Chennai has witnessed a series of murders targeting senior citizens in the last year. According to the National Crimes Records Bureau 2015 report, Tamil Nadu witnessed the fourth highest incidence of crimes against senior citizens in the country and also reported the second highest number of murder cases against older persons with 162 cases last year.

In 2013, every fourth murder in Tamil Nadu was reportedly of persons above the age of 50.

Is Chennai safe for senior citizens?

On May 8, 2016, a 67-year-old oncologist, Rohini Premkumari was murdered in her house in Egmore. She was living with her mother and police had suspected that she was murdered while she was taking a walk in her garden on the previous night.  Police had suspected that she was hit with a hard object on her head and both her legs were tied when her body was found.

Senior citizens living alone have been victims in the past. In March, a 72-year-old woman, Saradha was murdered at her third-floor apartment in Egmore. Her killer had slit her throat, cut off her earlobes and stolen her gold chain and earrings. A smartphone was also missing. Police then had suspected that the crime was carried out by someone who was familiar to the victim.

Similarly, 82-year-old Emma Gonsalvez, a psychotherapist was strangled to death in her apartment in Egmore in June 2014. An LED TV, a gold chain and two gold rings weighing four sovereigns were missing following the crime. The alleged killer was the juvenile son of Gonsalvez’s TV repairman.

A senior police official told The News Minute that the police was taking extra effort and the cases against senior citizens has decreased during the years. He said that they keep information of all the senior citizens in the area and regularly meet them. There is also frequent patrolling at night.

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